1960 Airstream Ambassador Project!

Dexter disc brakes and a Tekonsha P3 brake controller is stopping me. Finally.

What a job. Everything I read about putting disc brakes on your trailer says its worth the trouble. I sure hope so. It was a lot of work.

I started around 9am and the first thing I did was install the P3. It was releatively easy as they supplied the OEM cable. It was a simple matter of mounting and plugging it in.

I replaced my Tekonsha Voyager brake controller. I don’t know if it would work the the Electric/Hydraulic Actuator or not. I do know the P3 does as it has a setting for it in the menu.

Next up. Hydraulic brake line installation. As you know I already had the E/H Actuator installed and stubbed out the hydraulic line under the trailer. So I needed to run the lines to the brake calipers. I ordered a tandom torsion brake line kit from BluDot. It has a lot of pre-determined brake lines lengths, tees, brackets etc…

I had to jack up the trailer to take the wheels off to get access to the wheel well. Mounting the 3/16 steel lines to the brackets that transition to a rubber line to the caliper was just a matter of laying it out and bending the lines with a tubing bender as needed. Of course since I was not flairing my own ends, I had to work with the lengths provided. This ment a lot of coils tucked under the trailer.

Here are some shots of the steel lines and rubber line transitions.

Care must be taken to not have too sharp a bend on the rubber lines. Although I must confess to a couple of U’s in my installation. If I was able to cut and flair my own hard lines that would have helped a lot. Of course I’ve never done this before either so thats a good excuse :-).

After all the lines were installed and secured. The next step was bleeding the lines. I had to enlist the help of my dad again.

The bleeder screws on the calipers are so hard to get to, you have to actually remove the wheel to get to it. So imagine, jacking up the trailer on one side, remove one wheel, apply the brake, and bleed the caliper. Put the wheel back on and remove the next one, add more fluid to the actuator, and bleed the caliper. Put that wheel back on and move to the other side and start the process all over.

When you’re finally done, you have to do it all over again. New installs require a minimum of two bleeds of the entire system…. very labor intensive.

Happy to say that its all done. Everything works. I have not done a test tow yet, but everything checks out.

So that was 11 hours on the trailer today. If I could have found someone at $60 an hour to do this, it would have cost $660 labor only for todays work.

If you have a vintage trailer, you’d better roll up you’re sleeves!

I fully expected to install more brake lines. However, the parts did not arrive until noon, and by then I had other plans. So, hopefully back on the brakes tomorrow.

I purchased a table leg and wall bracket to build a table around. The wall bracket has a groove that fits the table piece. It allows the table to be positioned anywhere along the track.

I ended up building the table with the 3/4″ oak left over from the bunk bed project. Glad I didn’t through it out. Turned out OK so far. I need to finish staining it and put a polly acrylic coating on the top. Its supposed to turn into a hard protective coating. Let me know if you have used it.

Here is a shot of the wall bracket and the table in a stored position.

This next shot shows a dinning position. Two on the couch and two in chairs.

The nice thing of this design idea is the table can slide forward and become a computer desk. While still having access to the couch.

There is still plenty of room to get by when the table is out. Also I’m pretty sure the table can stay in this spot with the bed out.

I’m going to add a wall mount bracket to the end of the counter so I can put the table against the wall if I want.

We’ll thats what I got done today. Tomorrow… we’ll see…

I thought I was done with plumbing. But alas, I am not.

Not only do I need to plumb the hydrolic lines for the brakes, but I needed to *plumb* some brake wires to the e/h actuator.

Turns out, lacking my proper instruction, my welder pulled the original brake wire out of the belly pan when he put on the new axles. Basicaly the bellypan fell down and he pulled the wires out before screwing the pan back.

So, I needed to string a new brake control wire and the seperate emergency brake away wire to the e/h actuator. Since I’m putting the actuator under the streetside bed, that means stringing the wire from the hitch to the middle of the axles. So I ran some grey plastic conduit.

That got my wires where I needed them. I mounted the actuator and wired it up. I also plumbed the hydrolic line to a tee under the belly pan. Now I have to wait for the rest of my plumbing kit from BluDot.

He is a shot from under the trailer. You can see the conduit going up with the wires and the side of the tee. The shot after is a bad one but shows the pipe coming out of the belly pan and into the tee.

Thats about all I could do with the brakes for now. I need the plumbing parts still. Should be here tomorrow.

This is not fun anymore….

I picked up the couple of fittings I needed today to hook up the regulator.

I’m a little disappointed as I purchased a new propane rack and a new regulator as well. You would think the regulator bracket and modern regulator would line up and mount nicely. Not! I had to drill mounting holes in the bracket and get self tapping #6 screws for the regulator as the holes in it weren’t even threaded. No big deal, just more trips to the hardware store and more time.

Like my new tank? I don’t have propane in my new Worthingtons so I used my BBQ grill tank as a supply. I shut off the valves leading to the appliances and turned on the gas armed with my leak detecton solution.

Back on my back again, under the trailer spraying each connection. You have to spray it really good and wait for 5 - 10 seconds, looking for bubbles. Don’t skip this step. I thought I had them all as tight as I could, but ended up with four small leaks on the flair nuts. They just needed to be tightened even more. ALWAYS use two wrenches! One to tighten the nut and the other to hold the part you’re tightening into.

Next I turned on one valve at a time and checked the connection on the valve output and the appliance connections inside the trailer. After about 15 minutes of checking and tightening. No more leaks. I’m still buying a propane alarm for the trailer though…

Proof is in the pudding as they say. Here is the cooktop with all three burners running.

I switched the fridge to gas only and it lit up fine, same with the TwinTemp Jr. So after filling the new tanks, the propane system is done.

Some days, it would be nice just to take the trailer somewhere and say finish it. All thats left is the propane lines, disc brake plumbing, and some bellypan. Lots and lots of little finishing stuff too. But those are the major items to get it useable.

Problem is there is no where to take it to. No where I’d trust anyway. So off I go this morning slugging away.

First thing I did was run two more #6 wires in the belly pan from the street closet to the curbside closet. This is in case I decide I need a second battery. Which I probably will. Expecially since I did all the work of running the wire.

Then was putting up a piece of belly pan over the grey water tank. As usual no small task. You don’t want to screw into the tank! But I needed this done before I ran the propane lines.

So here we go.

You can see I duct taped some of the bubble foil insulation on it first. I figured it couldn’t hurt. It’s just screwed into the crossmembers that surround the tank. I’ll add some rivets as well as soon as they come from Vintage Trailer Supply.

I still have some bellypan in the rear to do, but that will have to wait. We can use the trailer w/o it if needed.

Next up was plumbing the propane. I was going to go back with all new 3/8″ copper. However after talking with Precision Temp about the Jr., they felt 1/2″ would do better. So I ran a 1/2″ main and tee’d off with 3/8″.

Here is my setup. I borrowed a furniture dolly and taped a rolled up towel for a head rest and now I have an easier way to roll around under the trailer. I had my copper, flairing tool, bender, and fittings ready to go.

It’s amazing this stuff takes all day. It always does. And yes I forgot the polsih my new Worthington aluminum tanks. Oh well….

I already had the fridge, Jr., and stove top, stubbed out to the botton of the trailer using 3/8″ lines. So I just had to run the main and tee off as needed.

Usually on torsion axles, which I have now, the propane lines are nicely bent under each axle beam. With my cheap wire bender, I could not do it. I did have enough room to fit my 1/2″ line between the axle beam and the bellypan, with less than a 1/8″ to spare. I don’t think those beams will flex going do the road and smash my lines…. will they?

I’m just short a couple of adapters to the regulator. Perhaps if I have time tomorrow I can pick them up and check the system for leaks.

Here are some photos.

I forgot the mention that I did put shut off valves on everything under the bellypan. So I can turn each item off if needed.

One more thing. I removed all the original propane lines and folded them up and put the aside. Then I noticed some black goo pouring out of them. It was a deep black oily mess. Yuck! I’m glad I did not try and reuse them on my new appliances. Be warned….

Well, thats it… See ya next time….

As promised here is the actual order information I used.

Dexter is very flexible on their axles. You can get a number of different sizes, weight ratings, spindles, brakes, mounts, everything. And their engineering department is nice to work with after you’ve educated yourself a bit.

Goto Dexter’s website and read up on axles and how to measure before you call so you have something to discuss. After you have your questions answered and you’re comfortable with the terminology then you can head to a Dexter dealer and ask for what you want.

Here is a nice Dexer resouce on axle measurement.

Here is the order form I used.

Here are my specs:

#10 Axle w/camber
Hubface: 75.38″
Hydrolic Disc brakes
“A” Spindle
EZ-Lube
6-5.50 hub
32 degree down trail
RC 3000lbs
Low Profile Reverse mounting brackets
OB 58.38″
Side mount hangers

#10 axle is their specification for the size. Normally their #10 axle comes with 5 bolt pattern hubs. Airstream uses 6 bolt hubs. So I specified the Type “A” spindle which increased the size of the brakes/spindle, and allowed for the 6 bolt hub.

Hubface is the distance between hub to hub where the tires bolt to.

6 on 5.5″ spacing is the wheel bolt pattern

32 degree down trail is the start angle on the torsion arm. Usually Airstream uses 22.5 but I wanted a little more height.

RC is the weight rating of the axle. After weighing my trailer, 4100lbs w/o the AC, couch, or water tank, I decided on a total capacity of 6000lbs.

Low profile reverse brackets. Dexters standard mounting bracket is exactly opposite of what Airstream used on their torsion installations. By specifying reverse mount, side mount, you can get the brackets that will be in the right spot to bolt to your axles. (not that the holes will line up though)

OB, Outside Bracket. This is the outside frame to outside frame measurement.

Keep in mind, this are MY measurements and specs. Yours WILL BE different. I just wanted to post this so that you can be armed with a little more information when you are working with your Dexter dealer.

It’s been a long time in the works. But the leaf spring to torsion axle conversion is finsihed. Talk about a stressful job.

A lot of unknown’s here. We had to measure for the axles, widen the hubface (wheel mount to wheel mount measurement), and of course the new aluminum wheels from Trailer Tire and Wheel Supermarket, a VAP Contributor. Wheels have different measurements and offsets, things I had no idea about and had to learn.

Going from a leaf sping axle to a torsion is no small task. It requires custom fabrication and lots of patience.

The axles are Dexter TorFlex with disc brakes. Dexter contributed them to the project. After a lot of talks with their engineering department, Colin of GSM Vehicles, and my buddy Uwe who put Dexter axles on his trailer, I was able to get some specs that I was comfortable with. Comfortable, but not exactly 100%.

I had them shipped directly to my welder who agreed to do the job. And a job it was. First the trailer had to be supported by the frame. No small task on an Airstream. The old axles and springs removed and hauled off. Airstream frames of this time, 1960, are very thin walled, less than 1/8″. Add the unknown of rusting from the inside out and you have a difficult situation. How do you weld two new axles on this very old frame rail.

After much discussion with Colin, RJ, and Uwe, and my welder, we opted to weld a 1/4″ three foot long angle iron to go across the bottom of the frame rail and up the outside. It was thought that this will help distribute the load along a greater distance and give a good welding surface for the axle mounting brackets.

Here is shot from the streetside looking back. You can see the angle iron welded to the frame.

Next is a shot of the welding of the axle mounting bracket that comes with the axles.

Here is another shot from the streetside front looking at the curbside.

Here is a shot of the wheel well on the streetside. Note the new aluminum wheels.

I did gain a lot of height like I wanted to. It must be about 3-4 inches higher now. I was nearly rubbing the driveway and curb with the plumbing and such backing in. Also my drop hitch had to be so low that it would drag as well. So I purposely ordered the axles with an increased down angle of 32 degrees. Of course I did not count for the included 1/4″ mounting bracket or the added angle iron 1/4″, so that added another 1/2″. It looks good.

In the photos I put the wheels on some boards to gain more room as I’ll spend the next few weeks under the belly replacing belly pan, running hydrolic brake lines and propane lines.

No, I did not install shocks. Airstream includes shocks on their trailers even with torsion axles. They are a desired feature. After much thought and discussion, I opted not to. Most of the axle industry using torsion axles do not put on shocks as the rubber in the axles absorbs the road shock. There will forever be much debate about this. Changing over from leafspings was enough trouble for me w/o worring about shock mounts. You’re mileage may very.

I’ll post my exact ordered axle specifications on the next post and try to explain some of them for those brave souls who venture into this themselves.

One last item. My welder was able to fabricate some bunk bed brackets I needed off a diagram provided to me from a good internet buddy Jim. Thanks Jim!

I really have my work cut out for me. Down to the wire with only a month of no school time to use the trailer… nothing like pressure…

If you look at the June 12th entry you can see along the wall some plumbing and wiring that needed to be covered up. Believe it or not, originally there was a water pipe running along the base of the wall as well. They covered it up with a decorative screen just pop riveted in diagonally from the wall to the floor.

I decided to do it a little more difficult :-).

With that done I was able to use some wood lag screws to secure the couch. So now that its all screwed down I thought that I would show you how it makes into a bed.

First you remove the arms and back cusions.

Next you pull up and forward on the black handle. That causes the back to slide down to make the foundation for the rear part of the bed.

Now the three cushions that you sit on are actually all connected together as one peice. The simply fold back and create the mattress. Note the drop down legs at the front. I really like that. I’m sure we’ll be sitting on the edge of the bed, or the kids jumping on it and I won’t have to worry about a leverage problem with the mounting. A nice touch.

Its a nice sized bed ready to use. It measures 51″ wide x 74″ long. Just under a standard queen. Not to bad.

Here is another shot from the doorway.

As you can see, even when the bed is out, it does not block the doorway at all.

Now I need to figure out some kind of dinette table. It will either be a free standing with flip down sides or a wall unit that folds out….

70 hours. Done! I’m finally done with the polishing for at least a year. And boy am I glad. You may be asking done at 70 hours, I heard it takes at least 150 - 200 hours. I’m not saying its the best polish job in the world. I’m just saying its done :-).

New tail light lenses and nameplate reproductions add a nice touch.

So, how did I do it in 70 hours. First off you have decide if your polishing for speed or perfection. You have to pick one or the other. If you choose speed read on.

This is the second trailer that I polished. The first one I tried to polish it perfectly and took 150 hours doing so. Then the first time my daughter grabbed the wire brush to help daddy clean the trailer….. There was also one of the camping trips when the oldest son used the trailer to stop his bicycle… I learned quickly that a perfectly polished trailer does not go with a young family actually using the trailer for everyday camping.

So keeping it perfect is a problem. Lesson one. The next lesson was that each year when you do the touch up. The polish gets better. So I know that each time I touch it up, it will look better.

On this trailer I took a speed approach. I needed to get it done because polishing was just one of the many things I need to finish in hopes to use it this year. And secondly the summer heat is here. The last few days I could only polish from 7am - 10 am. Then it was too hot.

Like I said, my trailer is not perfect. There are still some intense swirls from the compounding. Lots of badly corrioded panels that would have to be replaced to get right. Hey its been outside in the sun for 47 years. Get over it! How would you look after being outside for 47 years?

Realizing that, here is my speed polishing list.

1. Use a more aggressive polish. I used G6.
2. Set a limit over the number of passes over the same spot. I choose three. Use agressive enough polish to get the desired corrosion.
3. Go over as large an area as you can reach
4. Live with panel/corrosion imperfections
5. Cyclo with F7 then S then stop. Realize it will get better with each year’s touch up.
6. Remember, there is always a shinier trailer than yours….

Now I did try something different on the street side. I did one pass with Nuvite F9. The most aggressive grade. The followed up with two passes of G6. Unfortunately this left swirls to deep for the cyclo. So next year, I’ll have to compound with C or something finer during my touch up. But it won’t be near the work it took to get it here.

Like I said, I won’t be entering any contests. But it looks great from the next campsite over….

Man it’s getting hot. Over 90 degrees today. No time to polish. Its after 8pm and it’s still over 80.

I did get about 5 hours yesterday. Four before work and one hour in the evening. That brings me to a total of 60 hours. I have everything but the very front under the original battery box compounded. I’ll be getting up early tomorrow and try and get a head start. I’ll compound that area a little, but its pretty badly corroided. I need to move on to the quickie cyclo job to get done for the season.

The new couch/gaucho showed up today by freight truck. We ordered it about six weeks ago. So if you intend to order one thats how long it takes. My dad came by and we dry fitted it in the trailer.

The flash kinda washed it out, but it looks nice.

When it opens to a bed, it come up just to the right hand side of the door opening. So it doesn’t block the doorway at all. I like that. Tonight I lined it all up and pre-drilled the mounting holes in the floor for the lag bolts. But I didn’t fasten it yet. I have some trim work to do first on both sides of the couch.

I also added the strap hardware for the LCD TV’s so they can be velcro strapped in place during transit.

Thats it for now. Hope I can get up early to polish. Weather man is forcasting over 100 degrees over the next several days….